Why I might have bin burnt up in my own bed! Dere's de lamp broke--carpet burnt--pots and skillets hauled out of the closet--ebery ting turned upside down; why dere's bin a reg'lar 'sturbance down here," she continued, as she surveyed the apartment.
At this juncture, she espied Tom, who sat licking his paws before the fire, and presenting so altered an appearance, from the events of the night, as to have rendered him unrecognizable even by his best friend.
"Strange cat in de house! Making himself quite at home at dat," said aunt Rachel, indignantly.

Her wrath, already much excited, rose to the boiling point at what she deemed a most daring invasion of her domain.

She, therefore, without ceremony, raised a broom, with which she belaboured the astonished Tom, who ran frantically from under one chair to another till he ensconced himself in a small closet, from which he pertinaciously refused to be dislodged.

"Won't come out of dere, won't you ?" said she.
"I'll see if I can't make you den;" and poor Tom dodged behind pots and kettles to avoid the blows which were aimed at him; at last, thoroughly enraged by a hard knock on the back, he sprang fiercely into the face of his tormentor, who, completely upset by the suddenness of his attack, fell sprawling on the floor, screaming loudly for help.

She was raised up by Robberts, who came running to her assistance, and, on being questioned as to the cause of her outcries, replied:-- "Dere's a strange cat in de house--wild cat too, I raly b'lieve;" and spying Tom at that moment beneath the table, she made another dash at him for a renewal of hostilities.
"Why that's Tom," exclaimed Robberts; "don't you know your own cat ?" "Oh," she replied, "dat ar isn't Tom now, is it?
Why, what's the matter wid him ?" Robberts then gave her a detailed account of the transactions of the previous night, in which account the share Charlie had taken was greatly enlarged and embellished; and the wrathful old woman was listening to the conclusion when Charlie entered.